Three Weddings and a Proposal: One summer, three weddings, and the shocking phone call that changes everything . . .

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I moram da priznam da sam pomalo razočarana i da mi je trebalo više vremena za čitanje od planiranog. I was pretty excited to receive this book as I am a big fan of Sheila O’Flanagan and I like her Irish romantic novels. I was not disappointed by this book, although what I loved about it was a slight departure from the norm. Three Weddings and a Proposal has much more on offer than what one may assume at first glance. Enjoy the lightheartedness, but appreciate that this book is about recognising your own strength and staying true to what makes you happy. Yes, there will be pressures from those near and far but remember ... you always have choices. Delphie is enjoying her brother's wedding. Her surprise last-minute Plus One has stunned her family - and it's also stopped any of them asking again why she's still single. But when she sees all the missed calls that evening, she knows it can't be good news. And she's right.

Delphie is in love with her life as it is. She attends many weddings, but is totally ok with not having one of her own. When she notices everyone else has settled down, she begins to question that. Does she need more? Her family also pressures her about it. In fact, they’d be happier if she worked less and relationship-ed more. Fast forward a few weeks and Delphie’s life has been turned upside down, both on the work and domestic front. She has a lot of decisions to make and while her family think they know what she wants, Delphie needs to discover where her true feelings lie.While there’s romance here the most pleasing aspect of this story is Delphie’s career highlights, moments and situations. Delphine (Delphie) Mertens is a law graduate, working as an executive assistant to a very successful man called Conrad. She’s pretty indispensable to him; flying to his villa in Mallorca at a moment’s notice, bidding on a very expensive bracelet for him to give to his girlfriend, and trying to keep on the right side of his ex-wife. So when she takes a weekend off for once to go to her brother’s wedding and something happens which nobody could have foreseen, Delphie is required to question everything she understood about her life to this point. Delphine has worked hard for her success and she knows she’s got everything she wants. But not everyone agrees. Her opinionated family aren’t convinced that living alone with no plans to ‘settle down’ could possibly make her truly happy, and no one appreciates it when she drops everything, day or night, whenever her boss Conrad calls. Yet Delphine wouldn’t change a thing. And when Conrad makes her a surprise offer, it’s clear that her hard work is going to pay off.

Delfi sam doživela kao jednu vrstu ljudskog robota, skroz bez emocija, pa i u momentima kad je zaplakala nisam osetila ništa. Delphie has been living the life, a beautiful home, close friends, a loving family and a great career but soon everything is at risk of falling apart. Reading a Sheila O’Flanagan novel always feels like sitting down for a cup of tea with a friend– she writes with such warmth and empathy’ Beth O’Leary Delphie is a high-flying career woman, a senior executive in a Dublin financial services firm, where she organizes both the business and personal affairs of its chairman, Declan. She’s ambitious, smart and highly respected by staff and clients alike. Her future has never looked better. That is, until a tragic accident sends it spinning out of control.

I turned down lots of them before my mother accepted one for me (I was on holiday at the time). It was in the Central Bank of Ireland and that’s how my career in financial services began. Dilemmas, uncertainty of the future and self discovery are explored in the plot, with the realisation that not everything is going to be perfect. Weddings obviously feature strongly in this book but this is not just a story about weddings. Three Weddings and a Proposal is a book about finding one’s own path in life and about not being afraid to stand up and be counted. Having the confidence to be yourself and not suffering from imposter syndrome is a strong theme throughout. Just because society has expectations of you does not mean that you have to live by them. I really enjoyed Delphie Mertens as a central character. She falls down but she is unwilling to be ground down and, with the right support and motivation, she regroups and continues down a path that she chooses herself. I started out in administration and then moved jobs until finally I was working as a dealer in a commercial bank. Eventually I was promoted to Chief Dealer (the first female CD in the country). I traded lots of different things – foreign exchange, swaps, options, bonds…all of the kind of things you read about in the papers and that sound very technical and difficult. Of course once you’re doing it, it’s not half as technical as it sounds. I don’t write for any particular audience but I suppose I must have people like me in mind – people who have busy lives and who like to escape into someone else’s for a while.

As a child I enjoyed reading and telling stories and everyone thought that I end up in a job which had something to do with books and literature. But though I applied for a job in the library all of the job offers I got were in commerce. Delphie is enjoying her brother’s wedding. Her surprise last-minute Plus One has stunned her family – and it’s also stopped any of them asking againwhy she’s still single. But when she sees all the missed calls that evening, she knows it can’t be good news. And she’s right. As you can see, a Dubliner all my life. My parents owned a grocery shop in the Iveagh Markets, in the Liberties area of the city and I guess city blood runs through my veins.

An enjoyable and entertaining read that gifts the reader Sheila’s trademark writing, warmth, humour and robust and hearty characters. Apart from the terrific storyline, the two things I loved most about this book were the character of Delphie and the author’s treatment of the unique life choices that women face because of their gender. Three Weddings and a Proposal feels like a very personal book from Sheila O’ Flanagan. Misogyny is unfortunately still rife in many work places and needs to be stamped out. Equal pay, irrespective of gender, should be a given right and not a hopeful request. A woman choosing a career over a marriage or a woman choosing both or neither should not be put to a floor and discussed, it should just be accepted. Ultimately it is all about choice and that is a prerogative of every woman. Delphie has been living her best life, loving her job, her friends, her no-strings relationships and her dream house by the sea. Now she has to question everything she believed about who she is and what she wants. Is her mum right - is it time to settle down? Or does she want to keep on trying to have it all? Although romance is scattered throughout the novel I welcomed the author’s decision to not make it the be all and end all of Delphie’s adventures as she negotiates the inevitable ups and downs that love, life,career and family throw her way. In this type of fiction, however strong and independent the lead female is portrayed, there’s still an expectation that bagging a rich and/or handsome partner is the absolute pinnacle of success. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that’s what I bargained for when I opened this book so to meet a character like Delphie, her fellow musketeers and Marta and Bianca is an invigorating change and an agreeable departure from the norm.